Real Estate Leads: A Case Study on generating 17,000 leads in a 6 month period

2020 was a tough year for all around the world, surprisingly, Australian real estate didn’t face a real decline throughout the year, thanks in part to efforts from the federal government to boost the construction and housing industry, with the HomeBuilder Grant. With this grant, anyone wanting to build a new home would receive a $25,000 grant. Even better, first home buyers could combine this grant with the statewide First Home Owners Grants, for even more savings.

For First Home Boost, a Geonet client, this was an opportunity to capture new clients, by offering incentives to encourage buyers that the time to buy is now. The HomeBuilder Grant deadline was 31 December 2020, so there were only 6 months to act.

Through a targeted paid ad campaign, First Home Boost received a total of 17,297 leads from Paid Ads, which is approximately 81 leads per day. Additionally, Geonet’s social media team responded to 2,053 comments and 963 private messages. In total, First Home Boost had 129 house settlements complete by May 2021.

What are real estate leads?

A lead is a potential customer or client that has the potential of buying, renting, or leasing a property. Lead generation for real estate agents in Australia is something that they can use to get clients and customers. When lead generation strategies are done well, they can lead to an increase in not only revenue, but brand awareness, authority, and community.

How to generate real estate leads online?

To generate real estate leads online, you need to have a strong omnichannel marketing strategy. The market in Australia is rising, and the only way to get real estate clients cheaper than your competitors is to find non-traditional channels and use traditional ones with better ROI.

In June 2020 we had another real estate agency becoming our client. First Home Boost provides premium house and land packages for first home buyers throughout Southeast Queensland.

Additionally, our client decided to use a $25,000 HomeBuilder Grant, announced by the Australian government at the start of the pandemic, as a competitive advantage and an extra urgency trigger, as First Home Buyers had only 6 months left before the deadline.

Using our digital marketing experience in real estate we decided to focus on 5 main channels to get real estate leads online:

• Paid Social Media Advertising with detailed segmenting
• Retargeting
• Geo-targeting
• Webinar
• Full-time in-house customer service and response team

How to get real estate leads on Facebook

Facebook stays one of the best sources of real estate leads. As it offers a variety of placements, formats and allows you to reach out to very specific audiences when they are most sensitive to buy or leave their phone number. The Conversion Rate (CVR) for Facebook Ads for real estate is also above average across multiple industries and is around 10.68%.

To get real estate leads on Facebook you need to know precisely your target audience. The key to success with paid ads is to deliver relevant offers to a very specific segment of your audience. The broader your audience is, the higher will be your costs per click and lead.

The Geonet team produced several segments based on who is buying the house, the location, first-home or non-first homeowners, and many more detailed targeting factors. Here are some of our best-performing audiences:

1. First Home Buyers – The Ads and ad set were created for those who are in Southeast Queensland, Northern Gold Coast, Brisbane, Logan and Ipswich
2. Essential Workers – The Ads and ad sets were created for firemen, policemen, doctors, nurses, and trades workers. Geo-targeted locations over hospitals, police stations, and fire stations
3. Non-Australian Citizens – The ads and ad sets were created for Kiwis, Asians, and South Africans living in Australia.
4. Non-First Home Owners – The ads and ad sets were created for those who already have owned a home before.
5. Gold Coast – The ads and ad sets targeted specifically for the high-growth, popular areas on The Gold Coast.

How to get real estate leads on Instagram

A recent study showed that when Aussies research something they want on social media, it leads to them making a purchase in 61% of cases! Instagram is not only about sponsored posts for businesses. It’s a vital opportunity to build trust, especially when you’re selling something very expensive that covers basic human needs – safety, like a new house.

The majority of users in Australia trust brands that post high-quality content more than brands absent from social media. That’s why we recommend not only launching ads but to create an effective social media strategy.

All of the First Home Boost ads that were produced were sized for placement across Instagram as well.

Where to get the best real estate leads? Retargeting and Geo-targeting

Retargeting and Geo-targeting are two more highly effective sources for generating real estate leads.

First of all, retargeting allows you to significantly reduce the cost of the lead, as we target only those who were already willing to learn more, contact us, or were browsing a specific page.
Retargeting will follow a customer across all platforms and formats, using special offers, ad copy, and creatives.

Geo-targeting works as a missile in real estate marketing: it helps a real estate agency target a precise location, specific audience within the exact time. Geo-targeting is more precise than location settings on social media advertising.

How can I get free real estate leads?

One of the proven ways to get free real estate leads is to add value and materials to help educate potential clients and build your reputation and trust as an expert.

A webinar is completely free for the participants and can cost almost nothing for you. Some platforms offer free plans if you don’t have a lot of participants.

Set a very precise topic based on what your potential clients need. For example, the majority of our client’s prospects need their very first house. First Home Boost was able to provide a wealth of information in a 40-minute webinar, about the incentives, grants, locations, and other services. After the webinars, buyers were well-versed in the key messages and were more likely to buy with First Home Boost.

If you would like to know more about how to get leads for your real estate business, please contact us today.